Twisted Metal
by BowtieJunkie
Summary: Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe all of it was a mistake... But it's too late to change her mind. It's already happened.
1. Hit and Run

**Hey guys! Nice to be back around the site.**

**This is my first fanfiction, so be nice. I love reviews, so tell me what you think. **

**Rated: T (Just to be on the safe side. And because someone dies...)**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Young Justice or any of the affiliated characters. I really don't own any of the characters expressed throughout this piece... *sigh***

**This was originally going to be a one-shot, but if people seem to like it and I find the inspiration, it will continue. I'm not used to Artemis' character, so if I go OOC, let me know.**

* * *

><p>She couldn't bring herself to go any farther...<p>

It was another one of those undercover, don't-get-seen sort of missions. As always, however, it didn't remain that way for long. Artemis Crock couldn't exactly remember what happened to give them away this time. Maybe the bad guys had just learned to expect the Justice League's group of teenage heroes. Maybe it was Wally. She didn't care.

She did care that they had been seen. She did care that she had been left alone to fight a monstrous creature, three times her size, that was practically unfazed by any of her methods of fighting, exploding arrows included. Why couldn't they have let Superboy take it?

They got away uninjured, for the most part. Except for Artemis, who had been slammed repeatedly against a wall and stepped on and any other terrible thing a drooling beast could do. They had fallen back to regroup and after a few hours of hiding and planning, made pursuit.

The first day was okay.

Now it was beginning to catch up with the archer.

"I can't keep up. Just go ahead without me."

The group stopped with her and a redhead frowned, "I'll carry you."

The blond glared at Kidflash. "No," she said with disgust. "I'm fine. Just...finish the mission."

A tall, dark young man shook his head. "Artemis, we cannot leave you here. It is too dangerous, especially if you are injured."

Artemis bit her lower lip, eyes watering, her blonde hair swishing back and forth. It hurt her how much they cared, how much they cared for someone they hardly knew. "I said I'd be fine, and I will be fine. Just go. I'll find the ship and stay there."

If they waited much longer Aqualad, the leader, knew that they would miss their slim chance at finishing the mission. He nodded at Artemis, "We will come back for you later," and he and the others disappeared into the night. Artemis looked around, trying to focus her blurred vision and limped towards the nearby curb. She sat down slowly, easing onto the cold concrete.

It was hard enough for her to leave them, the team, but she really couldn't go on, not with a wound like hers. She sincerely doubted they had the slightest idea of how severe it was, and she didn't much care. Did she?

She reached down and fingered her knee, or at least tried to. The blonde jumped as pain shot up through her leg. Nope, she wasn't going anywhere for a while. Artemis shivered and watched her breath escape in small puffs.

There were headlights from a car shining through the moonlit night, approaching quickly. She hoped that they wouldn't notice her. How embarrassing for her, a bonafide hero, to be caught in such circumstances! Of course, that was her opinion and to each his own.

The lights glittered on the slush-covered pavement as the car sped closer. Artemis wondered if they were going to slow down. If they didn't, she would surely be splashed by half-frozen, dirt filled, water. Unpleasant as that sounded, she wasn't moving.

It all happened to fast for her sluggish mind to comprehend. The lights, not on the road, but aimed at her... The terrifying thought that the car would not, and could not stop... Pain that made her knee feel like a paper cut's worth... She wished she had moved.

And it didn't stop there.

"Hello, girly," a slightly slurred voice called out. Artemis didn't even attempt replying, for she could barely stay awake. There was a laugh, a drunken chortle, from where she could not tell. It filled the air and then left her in silence. The blonde realized that it wasn't the night that blocked her vision, because the dark spots shifted and changed and she could feel herself slipping away.

"Didn't see that coming, did you?"

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and then another on her other shoulder. Whoever had her, pulled her out from under a steaming, oily, twisted metal mess, which she assumed was the car. She smelt hard liquor on his breath and felt his shuffling gait.

"I've been looking for you," he said, jabbing a finger at her cheek. "You've been running around, trying to avoid me, eh?"

"I don't," said Artemis, panting heavily, "know what you're talking about."

"Course you don't. I just hit you with my car." He laughed as if it were some great joke. Artemis didn't think it was that good. "But you'll know soon enough. You'll figure it out as soon as you get your mind back."

"I wasn't aware that I lost it," the blonde said, even in the state that she was, lacing her words with sarcasm. She was answered by a sharp slap across the face. "I'm so dead," she mumbled, not exactly thinking of herself, but the fact that she let her guard down. The team, mostly Kidflash, would never let that go.

The drunk mistook her words. "You aren't going to die. I only clipped you," he rasped, jostling her as he pulled her up over the curbside.

"I will die if you keep shaking me." In response, or lack thereof, he dropped her onto the impossibly hard ground.

"I'll be right back," he said, and Artemis could hear his footsteps as he left. Once they were gone, she considered escaping, getting up and maybe catching a bus or hiding somewhere safe, but she couldn't even get a response from her arms. She might as well catch some sleep.

Artemis... Artemis, where are you?

Go away, she thought. I'm sleeping.

Are you all right? Answer me.

Artemis opened her eyes. M'gann, is that you?

Yes. We finished. The mission was a hoax, a false trail. M'gann mentally sighed. Back to my question. Is something wrong? Where are you?

Artemis blinked. No, everything's perfect. I was just taking a nap.

Really? M'gann sounded like she had believed the lie, the terrible lie. Oh... Do you want us to come pick you up?

No, thought Artemis, I think I'll just take the remainder of the week off, if that's okay.

Batman will want you to be there for the report.

Too bad, Artemis answered tersely.

I don't want him to be mad at you again, Artemis. Remember last time?

No, thought Artemis, wishing for the annoyance to leave, and she did the best she could to ignore M'gann. Eventually, she felt the Martian girl's presence disappear. The blonde was about to fall back asleep when she heard her little drunken 'friend' again.

"Still alive, girly?"

"Only if you stop calling me girly."

"Good," was all he said before he roughly pulled Artemis from the ground.

By now, although she had lost a lot of blood and felt half-dead, Artemis could see again. She could also move again, but not enough so that she would even consider breaking away. She did get a good look at her attacker. He was, for lack of a better word, unremarkable. He was about in his mid-thirties, with dark brown hair and dull eyes. He was pudgy too.

Probably, Artemis thought, he was just another one of those stupid hired guys. From the looks of him, he was just a computer geek or an office nerd looking for some easy money, and hitting an unsuspecting teen with a car was pretty easy if one thought about, or maybe didn't think about it... Either way, once she got her strength back, Artemis would open up a can of whoop-ass on the fool. Metaphorically, of course.

"What's your name?" she asked, trying to take her mind of other things, like pain... and pain... oh yeah, and pain...

"Phillip Marvin the third."

The blonde choked back her laughter. It hurt too much to laugh. "What?" Artemis scoffed. "Are you a prince or something?"

"Do you think a prince would hit kids with cars and drag them around? Yeah, sure... I'm a prince."

"You're certainly charming enough," said Artemis, rolling her eyes. Her voice cracked as she spoke and her nose was still bleeding. It had been bleeding for a while. "So who are you working for?"

"The Light."

"Like that's anything new."

He tossed her down again. Artemis groaned. That was getting really old, really fast. "We're here," Phillip said. "You can walk on your own. I'm tired of carrying you."

"Yeah, sure. I'll just get up and run a marathon." She pushed herself into a sitting position. "After all," she grunted, "I get hit by cars on a daily basis."

"I'm gonna ask you to be respectful here," said Phillip, changing the subject.

Artemis tried to get up. "I will politely decline."

"Do you want me to lose my job?" Phillip said with a scowl. He reached down and pulled the blond to her feet.

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"They'd kill me if something got messed up. If I die, so do you."

"I'm honored," Artemis said, taking a few shaky steps. She lost her balance and her kidnapper caught her before she fell forward in a face-plant. "Thank you," she muttered.

They didn't speak after that. Phillip had pulled Artemis' arms behind her back and cuffed them, but she really thought that it was just for image. She wasn't even thinking about trying to escape, and by holding onto the cuffs Phillip would, in turn, hold her up.

The building, on the outside, was fairly normal by most standards. It was a warehouse of sorts, with metal walls and large doors. The light of dawn was stretching its rosy fingers over the horizon, bathing the yard in light and reflecting on puddles and bits of the warehouse. There were no people about at that time of the morning, but as the two approached a side door of the building two hooded figures stepped out.

Artemis suspected they had been watching. The guards, as she guessed they were, stepped on either side of her and her captor. "That's all you got?" one said, poking a finger into the blond teen's side.

"That," said Phillip, a snarl on his chapped lips, "will get us a good price. The others will come looking for her."

"And when they do, we snag 'em, right?" said the other figure.

"Yeah."

The first one nodded slowly. "Alright, we'll take her to the boss."

"Ain't he comin'?" asked the second, pointing his thumb in Phillip's direction.

"No, stupid. He stays out. Boss' orders."

Phillip tightened his grip on Artemis' cuffs. "Staying out? I don't think so. I get my paycheck, or you can forget the girl."

"You'll get paid when the boss wants you to get paid. No sooner. No later. Now," said the first guard, reaching toward the half-conscious teen. "Give us the girl and leave." His last word was a hiss.

Phillip yanked Artemis back. "You heard my answer."

"Very well," the first one said. "Kingsley."

The second guard straightened up. "Yeah?"

"Show him what happens to those who go against the Light."

Artemis hoped that Phillip never saw it coming, hoped that he never felt the bullet slice into his chest. As much as she hated the man for bringing her into the mess, she never wanted to see him die. And the fact that neither of the guards had given it a second thought... The one called Kingsley had thrown her over his shoulder, giving her a good view of the dead man they left bleeding out on the pavement. The sun's rays touched his pale body.

Artemis fought the urge to throw up. This was no game. Not anymore. It never was, but then she realized that she had gotten into something she wouldn't easily pull out of.

"Should we gag her?" asked Kingsley.

"No. I like to hear them scream."

They shared a laugh, like this was some big joke.

"Alright kid," said Kingsley, throwing Artemis from his shoulder. "You get to meet one of the big guys now."

"Let's just hope you'll do," the first guard said. "We don't have that many bullets left. Besides," he reached down and grabbed Artemis' chin. "I do hate hurting little girls."


	2. Puppets

"Where is Artemis?" asked a gruff voice. It was Batman's voice. He stood in front of the tired teenagers he had named as Young Justice.

Their leader, the Atlantean, stepped forward. "She was too weak to continue with the mission. She went home," said Aqualad.

Batman narrowed his eyes. "How do you know she went home?"

M'gann raised her hand a little bit. "She told me. I asked her if I needed to take her back and she said she could get there herself."

"I highly doubt that. If she couldn't keep moving with the group, how she could get herself all the way back to her home? Especially when it is on the opposite side of the United States."

The group of teens was silent as they thought over the words of the Dark Knight. It slowly dawned on them that Batman was right, that whatever happened to Artemis, she couldn't possibly have gone home. "Maybe," Robin said, "she found a place to stay." But that was just hoping, saying what he knew didn't happen out loud. Batman never said anything, only standing there with a grim face, almost a silhouette with the giant screen's light behind him.

M'gann tried not to cry. "But she said that she was okay..." Conner put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Aqualad glanced around at the group, a determined look on his face. "We will go back and look around for her."

"Will you?" There was a hint of pensiveness in the Dark Knight's voice.

"With your permission, of course, sir."

There was a moment of complete silence as everyone watched the still, dark form of the dark knight. "Fine," said he. "You will only go there to retrieve her and nothing else. If she is not there, and if a quick search does not reveal her whereabouts, you will pull out and come back to Mount Justice."

"Yes sir," said the team in unison.

It was the stench that first caught her off guard. A smell she could hardly try to forget. It was, she realized, hard to put into words, but something worse than anything before, like rotting things and foul smelling garbage, and all manners of nastiness mixed into one. The worse part was that it grew the farther she was dragged.

Artemis couldn't see in the darkness, not that it made much of a difference. Her legs were becoming numb and her vision had never really cleared up.

The two guards dropped her off at a large doorway at the end of a dim hall and left her there. She wasn't sure of their motives, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let the small window of opportunity to escape disappear. Artemis Crock sat quietly, gathering her strength, for a moment an then began to push herself up to her knees.

She searched in the darkness for a handhold or something to pull her the rest of the way up, but what her hands met with was not anything of much use for standing. In fact, what her hands had brushed was grotesque at best. The blonde silently begged that it wasn't what she thought it surly must be.

Holding her breath, the teen blinked hard, waiting for her vision to clear up, and turned pushed on the dark form. It fell from its position against the wall and landed with a thud next to a very startled Artemis. The girl blanched, nearly gagging. No, she thought. It can't be...

But it was.

Artemis covered her face with one arm and used the other to turn the small body over. It was a young boy, one she found to resemble Robin by quite a bit. She choked back a yelp and backed away, running into another something soft. She turned fast and stared at another one, another lifeless body. This time she screamed. She was surrounded.

She got to her feet, a bit wobbly, and backed up towards the wall. She hit something, someone maybe.

"I see you like my decorations," that someone said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Artemis couldn't decide whether or not to be happy that she found another living being. She was, for once, speechless. She turned around to face a seemingly normal looking man. He smirked.

"So you must be Artemis." He waited for her to say something, almost knowing her need to say anything, but when she was silent, the man continued. "I am the Puppeteer. And these," he spread his hands at the carnage around him, "are my puppets."

Artemis squinted, looking around the dark room that she had stumbled into. There were more than just two... there had to be hundreds..."That is sick."

"That," said the Puppeteer, "is life. Or death... Whatever way you want look at it."

Artemis tried to move away from him, but the seemingly innocent hand on her shoulder tightened. The blonde closed her eyes. "You can't do this. It isn't right."

"Sometimes, the path to what is right must be found through means that should be left untold." He let go of Artemis, giving her a slight push forward and causing her to fall. "My puppets shall help to carve that path."

"You killed them," Artemis said, eyes watering as she tried to push herself up. "That can't possibly be considered good."

"Ah, but everybody dies eventually." He put his foot on her back and pushed until she fell back down. "I am only speeding up the process. Think of it as," he scratched his chin, "putting them out of their misery."

"What," Artemis asked, "do you want with me?"

"I don't exactly want you," he said, his voice smooth. The Puppeteer shrugged. "Not just you, although you can prove useful." He gave a quick kick to her side and she rolled over. The Puppeteer looked right into her eyes. "I want everyone."

"Why?"

"Why not?" he asked, searching her face. "Why not use the perfect team? One that follows every order and never dies."

"Because you can't."

"I can't?" He laughed. "I can't? Who gave you the right to decide what I can or cannot do? I could do anything." The Puppeteer leaned closer to her. "I can do anything." He stood for a moment, staring at the teen and then he whirled around. The guards from earlier were standing at the door. "Keep a look out for her team. They should come looking for her very soon." He glanced at Artemis. "Lead them in the right direction and then send for backup. I will send someone to retrieve them."

"Yes sir."

"Sure thing, boss."

They left, the guards, and then Artemis was alone with the mad man and his puppets. "I'll cut you a deal, little girl. You take part of my plan," said the Puppeteer, "and I'll let you live. I know your father and he will be glad to see that his daughter is playing the right game." Artemis kept her eyes squeezed shut and refused to answer. Of course she wasn't betraying her friends. The man crouched down and leaned in close, his lips so near to her ear that she thought he would try to bite it off. She wouldn't put it past him. "You'd be a fool not to take this deal, my friend!"

"I'd rather be a fool," Artemis hissed finally.

"Oh, wouldn't you?" And after no reply, he shrugged. "I don't plan to use you as a puppet yet... But that red-headed boy would make a wonderful slave." The Puppeteer stood. "Just think about how wonderful it would be to see him end that uncle of his. The great Flash wouldn't even know what hit him."

"No."

"No?"

"You wouldn't," Artemis said, venom in her voice.

"But you don't know that. Nobody knows that... And that is why I am still alive." He turned to leave. "Because nobody knows what I'll do."

* * *

><p>It had been oddly quiet in the bioship on the way to Los Angeles, the place where they had last seen their seemingly missing teammate. Of course, now that they had tried all means of contact with her and Robin had checked hotels, stores, hospitals, and other places in the area, coming up without anything, she could be considered missing. After checking, Robin sent out an alert to the police to search for the blonde teenager without raising suspicion or alerting the local news.<p>

No one talked unless necessary. For people like Wally West, that was terrible.

Once they arrived, M'gann led everyone to where Artemis had been during the conversation. What they found did not lighten their hearts.

Sitting crooked on the side of the road, the front hanging off the shoulder, was a scratched up minivan. The front of it had a human sized dent and dark stains, and the front tire was completely deflated. M'gann couldn't take it and went back to the ship, along with Superboy who thought she shouldn't be alone. Kaldur decided it was best not to show her, or Conner, the arrows he found or the broken part of a bow that Wally had picked up farther down the road.

Robin had never gotten near the crash and was instead looking around from a perch in the middle of the road. "They can't have gotten far, whoever did this."

"What if they had a ride waiting and abandoned the van?" Wally asked, still examining the bow.

"They didn't." He jumped down from the railing in the median and started walking toward the van. "If they had a getaway driver, they wouldn't have dragged her off."

Kaldur followed Robin's gaze. There was a trail of blood and footprints leading off the road. "How do we know this was Artemis that they hit?"

"The bow and arrows should be proof enough."

"Yes," said Kaldur, agreeing with the Boy Wonder. "But if it is a trap?"

"We can't risk losing a teammate by being overly cautious. But if it makes you feel any better, we can be ready for one," Robin followed the trail off of the road and into a littered field. "This way."

The bioship landed in the middle of the field. Kaldur guessed that Robin had already sent word that they were moving up. "Robin, can you track them from the air or would it be better if we followed and you took the ground?"

"The ground. Don't worry, I won't get seen."

"That's not what I'm worried about," the Atlantean said softly.


	3. Games

Robin had taken the ground route, and the bioship followed closely behind in camouflage. The Boy Wonder was fast-moving, only stopping once in a short while to examine the trail in the grass, or a sidewalk, or even once the side of a building, and the ship followed.

He stopped to rest after a few hours. The bioship had landed next to him and he had happily climbed inside and thrown himself into one of the seats.

"Any luck?" M'gann asked.

"Yeah," said Robin, leaning back. "The trail is there, alright. Easy enough to see, but hard to follow. They didn't exactly go in a straight line."

"If you want, we can stop for the day," said Kaldur. He didn't want to lose another member.

"No," said Robin. "Just let me get a quick nap and then we'll move on."

"How long?" Wally asked.

"Thirty minutes, max."

Robin's breathing eventually slowed and he closed his eyes. M'gann felt terrible about what she was about to do, but she had an idea that might save them some time. Though she didn't think she should, she woke up the sleeping teen. "What is the general direction that the trail has been going?"

The raven haired boy opened his eyes slowly. "West."

"I'll keep a tracker here, but while you rest, I'm going to do a quick run in the direction I'm thinking we'll find our destination," said M'gann.

"That's genius," said Wally, a grin on his face. He hadn't realized that M'gann had woken up Robin from his nap. "We'll save time, scout ahead, and if we can't pick up the path up ahead, we come back to the tracker and start again where we left off."

"I don't see why we couldn't have done that in the first place," mumbled Superboy.

"Robin, is that okay with you?" Kaldur asked. It had occurred to him that they hadn't asked what he thought.

"Sure, whatever. Just don't wake me up this time," Robin said, a little annoyed. He had just fallen asleep.

"Wake up, little girl," said the Puppeteer.

Artemis groaned and kept her eyes shut.

"Come on. I have a surprise for you," said he again. Losing patience with the girl, the Puppeteer caught her arm and dragged her up, which earned him a screech and a kick. "Now don't fight. I'm not going to hurt you today. I have something to show you." And unable to pull away or fight back, Artemis was dragged to her feet from the hard ground where she had slept the night before and into the hallway.

She kept her eyes closed and followed him blindly. She didn't what to see the hall again. The smell was bad enough. After the smell had lessened considerably, Artemis opened her eyes and looked about. The Puppeteer still had an iron grip on her arm and was pulling her between high stacks of boxes and scrap metal. They emerged from between them, only to enter another hall.

This one wasn't bad though, and contained nothing more than dripping water and a damp, moldy, earth-like smell. The Puppeteer veered to the right and in front of them was a service elevator.

"Where are you taking me?" asked Artemis, nervis about the man's strange antics.

"I'm taking you down to the basement. That's where my surprise is."

/That's whelming/, she thought, and then she frowned. Having been around Robin so long, her language had taken a turn for the worst. She was starting to use some of his words. /Wonderful.../ "What kind of surprise?"

"The kind that if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise," said the Puppeteer, a pleasant smile on his face.

Artemis stared at him for a moment until he pulled her onto the lift and pressed a button for them to go down. The man was confusing. He seemed so nice, like one of those next door neighbors that come around once in awhile just to see if you're okay. But then again, she couldn't forget his 'decorations' upstairs. Either the Puppet-whatever-he-called-himself was very good at acting, or he was one sick puppy.

With a ding, the doors slid open and once again the Puppeteer pulled the blonde forward, but Artemis was glued to the spot. Before her was, in her opinion, one of the geekiest, but most advanced, set-ups she had ever seen. Every sort of computer automation, technological, robotic mumbo jumbo was represented. Wally would have a heart attack, thought Artemis. Of course, she didn't know what most of it was, but she was still amazed. "How?"

"Lot's of spare time, Artemis, my dear. And quite a bit of money."

She reached out and touched one of the machines.

"For now, Artemis, I must uphold my promise to your father that I would keep you safe. It seems word of your capture has been passed to him, and for a man like him, he seems to care quite a bit what happens to you under my care. Since I am a man of honor, you will be given a proper room and access to certain parts of the facility until I have decided what to do with you." The Puppeteer brought Artemis' arm away from the machine. "I will advise you, though," he said, trying to look into her face. "Not to try anything funny. I am not alone here, and neither are you. My puppets are watching everything. One wrong move, and you can forget what I said about my honor."

Artemis jerked her arm away and nodded. The Puppeteer smiled. "Well then... Enjoy yourself and you will find dinner at seven. The clock is up there," he said, and he pointed up on the wall.

Once the Puppeteer had left, Artemis stood alone in the massive room of beeping things and flashing screens. She wondered what possibly had the mad man been thinking, to leave her in a room with, probably, one of the most powerful supercomputers in existence, and to give her free reign. Not that she really cared... If he was stupid enough to leave her like that, she would take advantage of it.

It didn't take long for Artemis to realize that the elevator was out of question, seeing as it no longer seemed to work. That had ruined her plan to escape, but Artemis hadn't planned to leave the warehouse right away. She was going to mess up the Puppeteer first. There had to be a catch, she thought as she looked around at the computers. The Puppeteer must have passwords or some sort of way to get on.

She was no Robin, but over the years Artemis had picked up a few hacking skills and she hoped what she she knew would be enough. She wanted to find a way to send a signal to whoever she could reach first, either the team or the League, and maybe even shut down the system when she was done. That would be quite a bit of work... But she could always just make a mess of things and type in random things. She'd have to decide before tomorrow.

Artemis glanced up at the clock. It was six o'clock in the evening, giving her one hour to scout out the floor before finding out where meals were served. She wasn't particularly excited about accepting food from the Puppeteer or any of his associates, but she hadn't eaten in more than a day, and for any of her plans to work, she would need to be as well as possible in this situation. Scouting would boost her chances of survival and success, so her training and experience said, and any help would be accepted.

She was about to leave, but out of the corner of the eye she caught movement. Artemis resisted the urge to turn and look at whatever had moved, and continued with what she had been doing before. The Puppeteer hadn't been lying, she realized when there was another movement behind her. His puppets were everywhere, watching her every move.

The blond heard footsteps behind her, particularly loud ones, and turned to see who was there. It was a young woman, maybe in her thirties. Artemis knew that she was a puppet, knew it in her heart, but the woman was so realistic, almost sincere. Almost, Artemis would go far enough to say, comforting. But she wasn't real, the teen reassured herself.

"The Puppeteer told me to escort you to the dining room and your quarters," said the woman.

"I'm not hungry," said Artemis, testing the lady's response.

She only shrugged in reply. "Suit yourself." She waited to see if Artemis would change her mind, but when she didn't the woman allowed a sympathetic smile to grace her small face. "The Puppeteer might be a creep, but he isn't the one that does the cooking, nor does he fix any of the rooms. You need to at least eat something. You probably haven't had anything since he sent for you."

"Yeah," said Artemis. "Well, I still don't want anything. Not from him." Even as hungry and tired as she was, Artemis wasn't going to give in. But her iron resolve was breaking...

The woman grinned. "Feisty one, eh?" She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "If you change your mind or decide you need anything, I'm Callie. Just ask around and I'm sure you'll find me."

"Maybe you could just show me around," Artemis said, pretending that she wasn't admitting defeat and only working towards her plan. Who was she kidding, though? She was just plain tired.

"I knew you'd come around," said Callie, a bit over the top. "If you'll follow me, miss, I'll take you to get a quick bite to eat and then we'll commence with a tour.

As much as she hated to admit, Artemis found herself enjoying the company of the small, if not a bit boisterous, woman. "Sure," she said, not trying to sound even remotely interested. "Tours... fun."

"Would you like me to run you by the first aid station? You've got a few cuts and scrapes that look as if they need work."

"I'm fine."

"You've got a limp," Callie said, looking up at the archer.

"I said I was fine. Just show me around and I'll get out of your hair," said Artemis and Callie sighed and mumbled something about children.

Artemis had to keep reminding herself that Callie couldn't have possibly been real, that she was just a puppet like all of the other people she had seen that day, but the little odd habits and sayings that Callie had a tendency of and the cheerfulness that seemed to light up the room was just too realistic. The underground part of the warehouse was nothing like the above. It was clean and furnished well, more like Mount Justice than an evil man's hideaway, and the tunnels went on forever.

After finding Artemis find her place and letting her have a quick raid on the kitchen, Callie left the teenager to do her own thing, and that was when Artemis began enacting her plan. It wasn't much of a plan. It was kind of like a general idea of what she thought she might do... Maybe she didn't really have a plan. Artemis never had to make the plans, Kaldur and the others took care of that. Mostly just Kaldur and Robin, though, and the rest of them just put in ideas. This was one of her ideas. And it wasn't a great one, but it might just work.

She got lost a few times, but somehow Artemis made it back to the computer room and she stood around sometime before deciding that she didn't see any of the puppets. That didn't mean that they weren't there, though, so she was watchful the entire time. The blond slowly approached one of the computers and seated herself near a control panel and keyboard which reminded her a lot of the one at Mount Justice.

Artemis stared at it for awhile, trying to figure out what she planned on doing, and then she frowned. What use was it to think? She wasn't going to figure out the system in short enough time to avoid being seen by the puppets. The teen would just find a way in, forget about sending out a message, and push whatever random button got in her way, for lack of a better name.

Her plan, however, did not even begin. The controls didn't respond to anything she did, not even when she actually paid attention and tried to get in. After a few minutes, she began to get frustrated.

"Ah, Artemis." The teen jumped at the voice. "Trying to play games on my computers?" Artemis froze, eyes wide, and caught sight of the sight of the Puppeteer in the corner of her vision.


	4. Cutting Strings

The new route seemed, for the most part to be working. After resting for an hour or so, Robin left the bioship and took to the ground to once more search for a trail. It had taken awhile, and M'gann had begun to harbor the fear that she had been wrong, but Robin eventually stopped and sent up a message, indicating that he had found the trail once again. They followed closely behind, and M'gann allowed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to be accountable for losing Artemis. She was already in enough trouble.

Finally, Robin stopped and looked up, waving at the ship. M'gann brought it down and Kaldur was the first out. "Have you found her?" the Atlantean asked, worry in his eyes.

Robin nodded. "Probably." He pointed in at a large gate. "She should be in there."

"Probably? We need to know for sure before we go in," said Kaldur, his voice serious. He was not taking any chances.

Robin was silent for a moment, thinking over the matter. "She's there. The trail leads here and we can't let this chance go."

The rest of the team was slowly exiting the bioship when Kaldur nodded. "Then we'll search for her here. I just want you to be completely sure."

Robin bobbed his head. Kidflash had, by that time, come up beside them. "What would she be doing in a shipyard at the port of Long Beach?"

"In case you don't remember, she didn't exactly have much of a choice," Robin said, eyeing the redhead.

"So somebody dragged her all this way? That couldn't be possible," said Wally. "Not carrying her."

"Not possible for people like you," said Superboy testily. "Somebody strong could have carried her."

"Or maybe not," Robin said quietly.

"What?" M'gann asked.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

Kaldur had not heard the exchange between the two teens and began giving out instructions. The team, for the most part, readily followed orders, especially in life or death situations. Superboy ignored them and went off to do his own investigation, but everyone was used to the sullen boy's hate for authority and ignored him. M'gann partnered with Kaldur and Robin followed Kid Flash after the speedster went off on his own. Kaldur had divided the port into three parts and hoped that everyone had listened enough to keep to their places.

Megan and Kaldur had the farthest tip of the 'peninsula'. They had a few warehouses to check out and quite a few long rows of crates and boxes and large metal containers. Robin and Wally took the middle section since it was larger and the two would be able to cover more ground than anyone else. Superboy, they hoped, had at least heard his orders and had the uppermost part of the strip of land that made up that part of the port.

Robin had allowed Wally to move ahead. Although he wouldn't readily admit it, he was tired. Tracking down Artemis' whereabouts had been a bit more taxing than he had originally bargained for. He still couldn't see how in such a short amount of time, someone had dragged deadweight across the state. Robin shivered and found somewhere to stop and perch for a moment. His eyes scanned the area, dragging across the stacks of shadowy boxes. Without realizing it, he let the silence wash over him and his eyes began to close of their own accord.

"Hey, Rob," a voice, a particularly annoying one, broke into his thoughts and he shot up. "Oh," said the voice. "Sorry man." Wally stepped away from one of the walls and leaned against the once closer to the Boy Wonder. "I had a look through most of this section and there's not a living thing, save for a few rats, in the area."

Robin leapt down from the top of his box. "I haven't seen anything from over here. Except for you and the others, there's nobody moving about."

"You haven't exactly been awake."

"Oh, buzz off," Robin said, giving his friend a playful shove.

They sat in silence after that, Robin's eyes darting about, Wally staring off into space. "How do you think the others are doing?" asked Wally, finally breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Robin answered, sniffing and wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Since we haven't heard from anyone, they're probably in the same boat as us."

"Yeah probably," Wally said, seeming disconnected.

Not for the first time that night, Robin worried for his friend. This hadn't been easy for the speedster, especially after he had already lost Artemis once before. Nobody could forget Wally's reaction to her death and he wasn't far from reaching that point again. "You alright, K.F?"

"Why wouldn't I be?' He asked, his voice taking a defensive edge.

Robin thought for a moment, searching for a way to word his next sentence so that it didn't come out wrong. "I know how you feel about Artemis," said Robin. He instantly regretted it.

"How I feel? I could care less what happens to her," Wally snarled. "I'm only doing this for the team."

"That's not true."

"It is, and if I didn't have to help, I wouldn't. Ever since she joined," his voice trailed off.

Robin sighed. "You know that's not right, you really do care." He took it up a step. "You love her too much to let her go."

Wally whirled around. "Why do you keep insisting I love her?"

"Why do you keep insisting you are unable?" Robin said, his voice pleading. Wally didn't reply and stared down at his feet. "You can't keep going like this, locking everything inside."

"I just," he started, but stopped and tilted his head. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Robin, but his question was cut off before he could finish. There was a yell from behind and Robin was pushed to the ground. He felt one of his ribs give way and let out a grunt. Robin turned his head to get a look at his attacker only to recognize the familiar shape of Superboy standing defensively over him. Wally was there too, struggling to get up.

"Stay low," Superboy said, crouching down and holding Wally to the ground. "I've been tracking these guys for a while. They're a bit hard to spot." He pointed up and Robin caught sight of two men standing at the edge of the alleyway between crates. "They saw the both of you and I had to blow my cover to get you down. Just barely made it."

Wally was breathing hard, but managed to sit up. "Why didn't you just use the mental link to alert us?"

"M'gann dropped it," said Superboy. "I don't have any idea why."

"Maybe they found someone who could detect mental activity," Robin said reassuringly to Superboy. He glanced up at the men. They hadn't moved. "So these were the kidnappers?"

"I think so," Superboy said, his eyes never leaving them.

Wally joined the two teens and stared out across the way at the men. "If they know we're here, why aren't they attacking?"

"Not hostile?" Superboy mused.

"No," Robin breathed. "They're hostile. But that doesn't explain why they're waiting."

They sat there for a few minutes, both parties staring out at the other. Superboy seemed to be getting more and more impatient. Finally, when his hands were shaking and he couldn't stop shifting about, he lost it. "Screw this, let's just go and knock their lights out." He leapt from behind their crate and into the cleared alley. The men didn't move. "What do you want?" he yelled at them, despite the protests and warnings from Robin and Wally.

"We do not have to tell you what we want," said one man. "Just come quietly and no harm will come to you or your little friends."

"Friends?" asked Robin, noticing the plural form of the word.

A third man emerged from the shadows holding two struggling figures. M'gann and Kaldur had been captured, and from the looks of it, their captures were not regular civilians. One man easily held the teens still and at least a foot off the ground. "Make your decision wisely, Kryptonian," said the man to Superboy. "This situation is not in your favor."

"Just back up," Wally hissed at the dark haired teen. Superboy nodded and, for once, listened. He came back around the box.

"What do we do?" he asked. Both he and Wally looked over at Robin.

"We can't give ourselves up, but we can't let M'gann and Kaldur get hurt because of us..." Robin frowned. "It will be a tough decision." The sound of commotion from the other side of the box caught their attention. The trio looked up and over the box and found a strange scene unfolding. Kaldur had somehow escaped the man's grasp and had one of the other men pinned on the ground. Robin looked at his teammates and grinned. "Seems there's a third option." The Boy Wonder showed his signature grin and laughed. They rushed forward, Wally in the lead.

As for fighting, the men were skilled enough that they managed to hold their own against the young superheroes for a time. In fact, after a few well-aimed shots, one of the men managed to take out both Kaldur and Wally. That same man disappeared with M'gann into the darkness. Superboy, in response, lost control and went after them, only to be thrown back by another one of the attackers.

By the time Superboy had gotten up, Robin was already busy dragging Wally away from the onslaught in retreat. "Grab Kaldur," he yelled to Superboy, and the clone followed orders, dodging fire and pulling the Atlantean away.

"We can take them!" he said through gritted teeth.

Robin glared, for a moment encompassing the very look that his mentor was known for. "And lose another teammate?"

"They have M'gann."

"And we have Wally and Kaldur."

Superboy looked down and shut his eyes, quiet for once as Robin and he waited for the gunshots to stop. Soon silence spread throughout the shipyard and Robin dared to take a look around the edge of their hiding place. "They're gone."

"Great," said Superboy.

The clone went to stand up, but Robin stopped him. "I said they were gone, not that it was safe. They might still be around somewhere."

"We could have saved her," whispered Superboy.

Robin sighed, guilt settling in his gut. "I'm sorry. We'll find her, and Artemis, but we can't-"

"Afford to lose another teammate," interrupted Superboy. "I know."

Robin nodded, but caught himself. "Wait," said he. "This doesn't make any sense. You said they were hard to spot and that you've been tracking them for a while."

"Yes."

"It shouldn't have been that hard. You have thermal vision. You should have seen them," said Robin, thinking out loud. "Wally has thermal vision in his goggles too, so he would have noticed them..."

Superboy shrugged, "Perception filters, or maybe just cold blooded."

"No," said the Boy Wonder softly. "That would take some serious tech, and these guys appear to be human... Why don't they show up? I would have caught them too. It's like they don't exist, like they aren't even alive."

"How very perceptive of you, Bird-boy," said a voice from behind, causing both teens to jump. "You are very close to being right. What do you say Kingsley?"

"Yeah, they got pretty close," said another voice.

"I'm what?" said Robin, losing control of his emotions and letting them play across his face. Superboy too looked shocked, but he was quick to assume a defensive position in front of his fallen teammates, half considering bringing the attackers back into battle. He hadn't even moved a muscle when they fell, however. The men just fell straight onto their faces, like puppets cut at the strings, into odd positions.

"What just happened?" asked Superboy, dropping his position, eyes never leaving the men.

"I don't know," Robin said quietly, hardly daring to breath.

"They just sort of... died," the clone said. He took a step toward the bodies.

Robin shook his head and walked up to them and crouched down to examine. He frowned and said, "I don't think they were alive to begin with." The teen felt for a pulse and, finding none, stood up. "We should contact the League."

"No," answered Superboy quickly. "They'd only stop us. They were reluctant to let us go to begin with."

Robin thought that over for a moment, and then shrugged. "I guess we have no choice." Superboy frowned. "We'll just have to wait until Wally and Kaldur wake up and then we'll go after them ourselves," he said, grinning foolishly. The smile was contagious, passing to Superboy who wore it as a smirk.


End file.
